D46SCE
Reviewed by:
Hurricane Ramon, on may 10, 2010 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 575

Purchased from: Some Place IN Riverside Cal

Features: Made 2000 bought in 2001 wood cut in China and assembled in USA. Listed @ $899.00 Dreadnought single cut away electric Acoustic 22 frets. Madagascar Rosewood laminated sides and back a dream to look into and at. One piece Alaskan sitka spruce top. 5 piece mahogany neck with Madagascar rose wood stock veneer. Madagascar rose wood " Butterfly " bridge. Really nice. Nice " Southwest " themed guitar motifs in the binding, back and sound hole a real classy looking thing, looks like it was made in te 30's ART deco era. Tuners are 18-1 Grovers - Thing stays in tune always:) Active Equis Plus EQ: bass - med - treble - presence - shelving low hz EQ notch potentiometer filter - you can kick on the EQ and off to hear the before and after sound. Piezo PU is decent - not at all " quacky " if you know how to use the EQ. Came with standard no frills black guitar case - nice and sturdy good protector. Replaced the plastic ivoriod bridge and made a bone one my self, Huge improvement - Added a JLD Bridge Doctor. Again a huge improvement on a great sounding guitar. This model is no longer made with Madagascar rose wood, now it's made with ash and does not at all sound like my model. Both models are rock solidly built really a work of ART seeing the interior and how " neat " looking the bracings and kerfs are. For the money it got top scores. // 10

Sound: Opened up my playing big time. Great action to start with out of the box. Lowered it when I made the bone bridge. Has really helped me in the transition to electric guitar. The sound of a rose wood is distinct I love it and this guitar rings like a bell. Clean treble very clear and sweet. Mid range is a kicker a real rock and roller. Folk style sound is there too. The Blues sounds absolutely deep - great bass tones. I'm as eclectic as it gets. I cover all styles from Blue to Jazz - and all the flavors of R-N-R. Broadway showtunes to Beale Street to St.Louis to Chicago's Loop of Blues and Jazz and include NOLA too. Again a super sounding and playing guitar so it's a 10. // 10

Action, Fit & Finish: Off the shelf it was Ready Teddy! But... As I mentioned I did some tweaking of my own to get it to where I liked it. After I lowered the bridge I had fret issues to file - aside from that this sucker kicks serious @$$. My buddys with Martins and Gibsons are totally blown away by it's sound and when they learn what I actually paid their jaws drop open. The solid spruce top is sooooo nice. Grain is something else on this with narrow and wide grains alternating like a " bear claw " spruce should look like. Bridge placement is perfect and looks distinct like Gibson's mustache bridge. The Madagascar rose wood bridge looks great with the added looks that the JLD Bridge Doctor's brass pins and add a super fast string change to the table since they thread through the top of the brass pins and that adds up to no pin removal when changing a broken string on stage and that is a super plus for this guitar's playability:) I rate it a 8 cause of the stuff I had to do to this guitar to get it up my expectations of a stage worthy guitar. // 8

Reliability & Durability: It's a live go to guitar can take a beating and keeps ticking. In the 9 years I have had it it's taken a few lumps, thumps and drops and has held it together when my heart stops when I see "it" going down as in the case when my 5 year old grandson wanted to hear me play it and walked into the the room walking with the body between his legs while holding the neck and as I see this I'm thinking: "Oh Lord please don't let him trip and fall on my guitar". Just that quickly he trips and falls on it on a nice carpet thank God heh heh - no nada - absolutely nothing was wrong after he literally bounced off the back as the front hit the carpet. After I realized the guitar was O. K. I checked on the kid heh heh am I sick. The Grover hardware is solid stays in tune always after tuned and left alone in it's stand day after week after year. No back up on gigs with this one now going 9 years when I do an Acoustic solo or get hired to play/record an Acoustic session. Finish is superb - getting a real nice patina on it too now. I don't use picks over so the finish after tons of use is still sweet aside from my finger nails doing a little Willie Nelson wear thing around the sound hole - I don't have a pick guard. This is the guitar my grand kids will give to their kids when I am dead and buried. // 10

Overall Impression: Eclectic is the word for me and yes it does cover it all very nice for a dreadnought. I got this guitar after my first year of my return to guitar after a 36 year - 3 months - 11 day detour. Had a miracle happen and I'm back in the saddle again. It's now my 11th. Year and I started late in guitar at 48 mind ya! I have been a professional musician since 1977 - started getting paid as a harp blowing monster doing CW as my first paid gig. In my musical quiver: Hondo mahogany Spanish nylon Acoustic - No frills but super sweet with a one piece Cedar top. Godin LGXSA Acoustic electric - magnetic electric - midi synthesizer. Kicks serious @$$ Roland GR33 guitar synthesizer guitar module. SAWEEEEEEEEET! Squier PBASS - Super deal $ 80.00 after a little TLC it's a Killer. Bullet mic for harps Shure 520D - Hohner BluesBlaster - American Chrome circa 1954 ( the very year I started to blow harp too! ) Shure 57 & 58s - EV mics - Samson condenser large diaphragm phantom powered mic. Digitech DAW GNX4 - Man I love this unit to death! 8 channel digital recorder - 10 stomp boxs - FX up the wazzuuuu. Midi drum machine and live looper:) XLR w/phantom mic input and stereo line inputs. Carvin X-60 tube guitar amp. Polytone Mini Brute III/IV/V/M-PA.Little P. A. With a super sound for electric Jazz and Blues guitars 90 watts ss with Polytone X2 Speakers cabs with a single 12" & 8" drivers.For solo small gigging. Assorted Peavy - Gem - ESS - BGW stereo power amps 400 - 800 watters. Peavy single folded horns ( X2 ) with 15" Black widows " X2 Altec Lansing/JBL super big @$$ horns. I don't know how to replace the D46SCE since it is no longer being made with rose wood:( So if it happens to get "lost" I'm screwed for the price I paid, no way will I ever find a well made guitar like this for the same money:( It's lean thin neck is a dream you can bend chords or note by pushing the beck just below and behind the head stock. It's a dreamy sound you get when you do this while playing harmonics. In quality it compare's to the better anything brands of guitar makers world wide barre none. The day I bought this I auditioned Martins - Gulls - Gibsons - Takemines - all in the same sound room. This unit walked away with me @ 575.00 with taxes and a case. // 10